‘Barry’ was blown from his nest as an owlet during a storm. He was too young to survive on his own so he came to the American Eagle Foundation and unfortunately became imprinted. Often you can hear him hooting as dusk approaches.

ABOUT THIS SPECIES

The Barred Owl is named after the barred, feathers marked with transverse bands of distinctive color, feather patterns on its chest. They can live to be 40 years old in captivity and about half that age in the wild. Barred Owls prefer large, heavily forested areas and low-lying swamps and creek beds where they can dine on mice, chipmunks, birds, and amphibians.

You can tell whether a bird hunts more during the night or during the day by the color of its eyes. The eyes of the Barred Owl are very dark, indicating they hunt almost entirely at night.

HEAR THE SOUND OF A BARRED OWL

RAISING A FAMILY OF BARRED OWLS

WATCH A VIDEO

(Video is defaulted to “mute” … so be sure to mouse over the bottom right to turn sound on!)

Barred Owl “Lockett” from Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky.

Furthermore, Raptor Rehabilators of Kentucky goes on to say, “The Barred Owl makes more different kinds of calls than any other owl in North America. The most common call sounds like “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you allll?” Others sound like whistling, baying hounds, barking dogs, a human screaming in agony, cackling, yells and maniacal laughter.”